Iran’s attorney general has said the morality police, the force which detained Mahsa Amini and enforces the country’s dress code has been “closed”.
Mohammad Jafar Montazeri was cited by the Iranian Labour News Agency saying that the force had been disbanded.
Iran’s Interior Ministry, which is the authority in charge of the morality police, has yet to comment on the status of the force.
Mr Montazeri was quoted saying: “The same authority which has established this police has shut it down”, adding that the morality police was not under the judiciary’s authority, which “continues to monitor behavioural actions at the community level”.
The morality police was sanctioned by the UK following the death of Ms Amini, 22, who died in police custody after she was detained for allegedly not properly covering her hair with a headscarf – known as the hijab – which is mandatory for Iranian women.
The force has also gained criticism for its violent crackdown on the subsequent nationwide protests following Ms Amini’s death.
The activist HRANA news agency said 470 protesters had been killed as of Saturday, including 64 minors. It said 18,210 demonstrators were arrested and 61 members of the security forces were killed.
Image: Protest in Tehran in September. Pic: WANA/Reuters
Iranian actresses, activists and protesters have posted pictures without wearing the hijab in solidarity with the anti-government demonstrations.
On Sunday, protesters called for a three-day strike this week as they seek to maintain pressure on authorities over Ms Amini’s death.
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Protests are planned on the day President Ebrahim Raisi is due to address students at Tehran University on Wednesday.
Image: Nasibe Samsaei, an Iranian woman living in Turkey, cuts her hair during a protest in Istanbul
Iran says reviewing mandatory headscarf law
Following the widespread unrest, Mr Montazeri said Iran is reviewing the law that requires women to cover their heads.
Quoted by the ISNA news agency, Mr Montazeri said: “We are working quickly on the issue of hijab and we are doing our best to use a wise solution to deal with this phenomenon that hurts everyone’s heart.”
He added that a meeting has been held with the parliament’s cultural commission and results will be seen “within the next week or two”.
Top Iranian officials have repeatedly said Tehran would not change the Islamic Republic’s mandatory hijab policy, which requires women to dress modestly and wear headscarves.
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1:06
Iranian climber ‘forgot’ hijab
Elnaz Rekabi’s family home destroyed
In Iran, the family home of female Iranian rock climber Elnaz Rekabi, who competed abroad without wearing a hijab, has been demolished.
Iran’s official judiciary news agency, Mizan, said on Saturday that the destruction of her brother’s home was due to its ”unauthorised construction and use of land” and took place months before the climber competed at an international rock climbing competition in South Korea.
However, anti-government activists say the demolition was targeted. Iranian authorities have not publicly confirmed the demolition.
The 33-year-old did not wear a mandatory headscarf required of female athletes from the Islamic Republic at a competition in October. A later Instagram post attributed to the athlete, described her appearance without a hijab as accidental – although it was not clear whether she wrote it.
The Iranian government routinely pressures activists at home and abroad, often airing what rights groups describe as coerced confessions on state television.
The Ukrainian president said the meeting ahead of Pope Francis’s funeral could end up being “historic.” Hours later, Mr Trump questioned Vladimir Putin’s appetite for peace in a Truth Social post.
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2:49
From Saturday: Trump meets Zelenskyy at funeral
Speaking before boarding Air Force One on Sunday, Mr Trump again said the meeting went well, and that the Ukrainianleader was “calmer”.
“I think he understands the picture, I think he wants to make a deal,” he said, before turning to Mr Putin and Russia.
“I want him to stop shooting, sit down and sign a deal,” the US president said, adding he was “very disappointed that they did the bombing of those places (including Kyiv, where nine people were killed in a Russian airstrike on Friday) after discussions”.
However, Mr Trump said he thinks Mr Zelenskyy is ready to give up Crimea, which the Ukrainian leader has repeatedly said he would refuse to do.
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He added that “we’ll see what happens in the next few days” and said “don’t talk to me about Crimea, talk to Obama and Biden about Crimea”.
Russia annexed Crimea in 2014, while Barack Obama was president.
Meanwhile, US secretary of state Marco Rubio told Sky’s US partner network NBC News that a peace deal to end the war was “closer in general than they’ve been any time in the last three years, but it’s still not there”.
“If this was an easy war to end, it would have been ended by someone else a long time ago,” he added on the Meet the Press show.
It comes after North Korea confirmed it had deployed troops to fight for Russia, months after Ukraine and Western officials said its forces were in Europe.
State media outlet KCNA reported North Korean soldiers made an “important contribution” to expelling Ukrainian forces from Russian territory, likely to be the Kursk region.
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KCNA said leader Kim Jong Un made the decision to deploy troops to Russia and notified Moscow, and quoted him as saying: “They who fought for justice are all heroes and representatives of the honour of the motherland.”
It also quoted the country’s ruling Workers’ Party as saying the end of the battle to liberate Kursk showed the “highest strategic level of the firm militant friendship” between North Korea and Russia.
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1:26
From June 2024: Putin drives Kim around in luxury limo during state visit
The North Korean leader promised at the time “full support and solidarity to the Russian government, army and people in carrying out the special military operation in Ukraine”.
At least 40 people have been killed and several hundred more injured after an explosion and fire at Iran’s largest port, according to state media.
The blast, at the Shahid Rajaei container hub near the southern city of Bandar Abbas, happened on Saturday as Iran held a third round of talks with the US in Oman about Tehran’s nuclear programme.
Shipping containers burned, goods inside were badly damaged and the explosion was so powerful that windows several miles away were shattered, reports said.
Image: Iranian Red Crescent rescuers work at the site of the blast. Pic: Reuters
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0:26
The blast at the Shahid Rajaei port happened as Iran and the US met for the third round of negotiations over Tehran’s nuclear program.
Helicopters and aircraft dumped water from the air on the blaze and by Sunday afternoon it was 90% extinguished, the head of Iran’s Red Crescent Society told state media.
Officials said port activities had resumed in unaffected parts of Shahid Rajaei.
Out of the 752 people who had received treatment for their injuries, 190 were still being treated in medical centres on Sunday, according to Iran’s crisis management organisation.
Chemicals at the port were suspected to have worsened the blast, but the exact cause of the explosion was not clear.
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Iran’s defence ministry denied international media reports that the explosion may be connected to the mishandling of solid fuel used for missiles.
The reports were “aligned with enemy psyops [psychological operations]”, according to a ministry spokesperson, who told state TV the blast-hit area did not contain any military cargo.
Image: Firefighters work to extinguish the blaze. Pic: AP
According to the Associated Press, British security company Ambrey said that the port in March received sodium perchlorate, which is used to propel ballistic missiles and the mishandling of which could have led to the explosion.
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The Financial Times previously reported two Iranian vessels had shipped from China enough of the ingredient to propel up to 260 mid-range missiles.
It was reportedly to help Tehran replenish stocks after its missile attacks on Israel in 2024.
Iran’s military has sought to deny the delivery of sodium perchlorate from China.
Iran’s state-run Irna news agency reported on Sunday that Russian President Vladimir Putin deployed several emergency aircraft to Bandar Abbas to provide help.
Anna and Irene have already been queuing for an hour or so, and they know they have a long wait still to come.
“Two hours, three hours, ten hours – what does it matter?” says Irena. “This is about eternity.”
They have come to Rome from Slovenia, Catholics who felt “Papa Francis would have wanted us to be here”.
Image: People take photos of the grave of late Pope Francis inside St. Mary Major Basilica. Pic: AP/Andrew Medichini
Image: A single white rose left on the tomb. Pic: Vatican
And under the sun outside Santa Maria Maggiore, they are awaiting the opportunity to visit his tomb.
Francis, says Irena, “was like a rainbow” who lit up the world. Anna nods along: “We are so happy to be here.”
The Pope’s tomb has become a new source of pilgrimage.
More than 30,000 people came to view it during the first morning after the Pope’s funeral, the queue snaking from the front of the mighty basilica and then up and down across the square at the back.
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Some were curious visitors, others were devout followers – priests and nuns mixing in the queue with tourists and devoted locals.
All of these admired Francis; a very few actually knew him.
Father Alessandro Masseroni is a deacon who came to Rome to train to become a priest. On his phone, he shows me a photo of him and Francis, with the Pope offering words of encouragement.
Image: Father Alessandro Masseroni meeting the Pope
He says: “I had the honour to serve Pope Francis and to talk to him many times and it was a special experience. I understand why he was so loved by all the people – he was simple and direct.
“He was sunny. St Francis was his role model and when I saw the first picture of the Pope’s tomb, the first thing I thought was of the tomb of St Francis of Assisi.
“Pope Francis will leave a legacy – it doesn’t end with his death but will continue.”
Image: People attend the funeral of Pope Francis. Pic: Reuters/Yara Nardi
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0:38
Video shows Pope’s tomb
What are your emotions now, as you wait to visit his tomb, I ask. Father Alessandro pauses and smiles.
“Many emotions of course, but mainly, I think… thankfulness.”
That has been a recurring aspect among so many of the people we have met in Rome over the past week – the sense that sadness for Francis’s death is outweighed by the sense that his was a life that should be celebrated.
Volodymyr Borysyak flew in from London on the morning of the Pope’s funeral to make his third pilgrimage to Rome.
Barely had he arrived than his phone was stolen, a crime he responded to by praying for the thief.
Volodymyr is a refugee from western Ukraine who worries that his home country’s plight is being forgotten by some of the world.
Now, the Pope who inspired him has died.
You might imagine that he would be resentful and angry. Instead, he is full of smiles.
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7:51
The farewell to Pope Francis
“We are happy to be the pilgrims of the world and this is a special day,” he tells me. “I know the pope used to pray in this basilica so that is why we will stay so long here to visit Santa Maria Maggiore.
“I think Pope Francis was, is and will be the pope for the world, because of the mercy of his heart and his love for everybody.”